Editing Minnesota Territory (section)

==History==
{{Further| Territorial era of Minnesota}}
[[Image:MN-Terr-1849-1851.jpg|upright=1.25|thumb|The nine original counties of the Minnesota Territory extended into what became [[North Dakota]] and [[South Dakota]] (left)]]
[[Image:Minnesota Territory 3c green 1949 issue.JPG|thumb|Minnesota Territory Centennial stamp, issued in 1949 in recognition of Minnesota's unique [[Métis]] oxcart traders.]]

The Minnesota Territory was formed on March 3, 1849, encompassing the entirety of the present-day state of [[Minnesota]] and the majority portions of modern-day [[North Dakota|North]] and [[South Dakota]] east of the [[Missouri River|Missouri]] and [[White Earth River (North Dakota)|White Earth]] Rivers.<ref>See [http://www.sos.state.mn.us/student/eactnote.html The Student Page of the Minnesota Secretary of State] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070701084436/http://www.sos.state.mn.us/student/eactnote.html |date=July 1, 2007 }} for an overview of how Minnesota's state boundaries were determined.</ref> At the time of formation there were an estimated 5,000 settlers living in the Territory. There were no roads from  adjoining [[Wisconsin]] or [[Iowa]].  The easiest access to the region was via [[waterway]], of which the [[Mississippi River]] was primary. 
The primary mode of transport was the [[Steamboat|riverboat]].

Minnesota Territory had three significant pioneer settlements: [[St. Paul, Minnesota|St. Paul]], St. Anthony/[[Minneapolis]], and [[Stillwater, Minnesota|Stillwater]], plus two military reservations: [[Fort Snelling]] and [[Fort Ripley (Minnesota fort)|Fort Ripley]]. All of these were located on waterways. A reservation for the [[Winnebago people]] had been created at [[Long Prairie, Minnesota|Long Prairie]] in 1848. The Chippewa Agency, at [[Crow Wing, Minnesota|Crow Wing]], was founded in 1852. The Upper and Lower Sioux Agencies were created in 1853. All of these were also located adjacent to waterways. The primary territorial institutions were in the three main settlements. St. Paul was made the territorial [[Capital city|capital]], Minneapolis was selected as the site of the [[University of Minnesota]], and Stillwater was chosen for the [[Minnesota Territorial Prison|Territorial Prison]].<ref name="MN Terr Pioneers">{{cite web | url=http://www.mnterritorialpioneers.org/info/hist/terrhist.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160724092738/http://www.mnterritorialpioneers.org/info/hist/terrhist.htm | url-status=dead | archive-date=July 24, 2016 | title=History of the Minnesota Territory | publisher=Minnesota Territorial Pioneers | access-date=August 25, 2019}}</ref>  The military reservations were federal land, of which the [[Fort Snelling Unorganized Territory]] still exists.  Fort Ripley is now part of [[Minnesota National Guard]]'s [[Camp Ripley]].  The first school in the Territory was located at Fort Snelling, as was the first Post Office.<ref name="Colbruno">[http://mountainviewpeople.blogspot.com/2009/12/john-marsh-1799-1856-early-california.html Colbruno, Michael "Lives of the Dead: Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland." December 12, 2009.] Retrieved March 5, 2015.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title=The Post Office in Early Minnesota|journal=[[Minnesota History (journal)|Minnesota History]]|volume=40|issue=2|date=1966|first1= J. W.|last1= Patterson|pages=78–89|url=http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/40/v40i02p078-089.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019182100/https://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/40/v40i02p078-089.pdf|archive-date=October 19, 2012|url-status=dead|jstor=20177825}}</ref> The first [[justice of the peace]] in Minnesota was at [[Mendota, Minnesota|Mendota]], as was the first church, [[Saint Peter's Church (Mendota, Minnesota)|St. Peter's Catholic Church]], which was built in 1840.

The first territorial governor, [[Alexander Ramsey]], requested that Congress approve funds for five military roads in the Territory: Mendota/Fort Snelling to the confluence of the [[Big Sioux River]] with the [[Missouri River]]; Point Douglas to Fort Ripley; Fort Ripley Road/Swan River to Long Prairie Indian Agency; and Point Douglas to Superior.<ref name="MNHWY">A History of Minnesota's Highways Part One, Streets MN webpage,  Monte Castleman,  February 9, 2018 [https://streets.mn/2018/02/09/a-history-of-minnesotas-highways-part-one/]</ref> A budget was approved in 1850 for four of these roads, with the Point Douglas–Fort Ripley Military Road being the first. Additional funds were later appropriated for a survey of the route to the Big Sioux/Missouri, the [[Fort Ridgely and South Pass Wagon Road]] and the Wagon Road from Fort Ripley to [[Fort Abercrombie]]. Private trails were cut as well, the most well known of which was Dodd Road from 1853. It was named after its builder, Captain William B. Dodd, and [[Dodd Road Discontiguous District|significant portions of it]] still exist.<ref name="MNHWY"/>

When the region was still part of the [[Wisconsin Territory]], the [[Red River Trails]] were further developed by [[Joe Rolette]].<ref name="MNHWY"/> There were three main trails, now identified as the West Plains Trail, East Plains Trail, and Woods Trails.<ref name="MNHWY"/> They connected [[Fort Garry]] and the [[Selkirk Settlement]] in British North America with Fort Snelling and the [[American Fur Trading Company]] at [[Mendota, Minnesota|Mendota]].<ref name="MNHWY"/> Later, the Oxcarts  became synonymous with St. Paul's Kellogg Street and the riverboat landing on the Mississippi River. Fort Ripley lay along the East Plains Trail.

In 1850, 10 years after the end of the [[Second Great Awakening]] (1790–1840), of the three churches with [[Church service|regular services]] in the Minnesota Territory, 1 was [[History of Methodism in the United States|Methodist]], 1 was [[Presbyterianism in the United States|Presbyterian]], and 1 was [[Catholic Church in the United States|Catholic]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Selcer|first=Richard F.|editor-last=Balkin|editor-first=Richard|title=Civil War America: 1850 to 1875|year=2006|place=New York|publisher=[[Infobase Publishing|Facts on File]]|page=143|isbn=978-0816038671}}</ref> The [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis|Roman Catholic diocese of Saint Paul of Minnesota]] was established by Pope Pius IX on July 19, 1850, and consisted of the entirety of the Minnesota Territory.  Because of this original territorial designation, to this day the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis continues to oversee the Catholic dioceses in the Dakotas within its ecclesiastical province.

In the [[1850 United States census]], the [[List of counties in Minnesota|nine counties]] in the Minnesota Territory reported the following population counts:<ref>{{cite report|editor-last=Forstall|editor-first=Richard L.|title=Population of the States and Counties of the United States: 1790–1990|pages=85–87|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1990/population-of-states-and-counties-us-1790-1990/population-of-states-and-counties-of-the-united-states-1790-1990.pdf|access-date=May 18, 2020}}</ref>
{| class=wikitable
! Rank
! County
! Population
|-
|1
|[[Ramsey County, Minnesota|Ramsey]]
|2,227
|-
|2
|[[Kittson County, Minnesota|Kittson]]
|1,134
|-
|3
|[[Washington County, Minnesota|Washington]]
|1,056
|-
|4
|[[Dakota County, Minnesota|Dakota]]
|584
|-
|5
|[[Benton County, Minnesota|Benton]]
|418
|-
|6
|[[Wabasha County, Minnesota|Wabasha]]
|243
|-
|7
|[[Wahnata County, Minnesota Territory|Wahnata]]
|160
|-
|8
|[[List of counties in Minnesota#Historical counties|Mahkahta]]
|158
|-
|9
|[[Itasca County, Minnesota|Itasca]]
|97
|-
|
|Minnesota Territory
|6,077
|-
|}